Head Coach Bruce WeberOpening statement…“It was a good win for us – a good all-around win. It was good on both ends. I believe it was the best we shot all year and we have now shot the three ball pretty well the last two games. We guarded – Staten is hard to guard and the rest of those guards keep coming at you. They jump out and Harris hits a couple of three’s right away, but after that we really locked in and did a good job of just being solid on defense. Marcus [Foster] got in foul trouble early, Shane [Southwell] made some big plays, we moved the basketball and kind of made a run that broke their spirits before halftime. Then we had a good start to the second half, which kind of pinned them down, and at the end we just went with it. They just did high ball screens to deal with it and it is a little disappointing that we did not stay quite as motivated.”

On Shane Southwell’s performance…“Shane started slow but he got it going. He had a couple of games where he did not get involved enough, but then the next three or four in a row he was pretty solid. It is an all-around game – he gets 20 points on 10 shots and makes all of his free throws, which he did not do early on this season. Five rebounds, four assists, and one turnover – those are pretty good numbers. He, Gipson, D.J. [Johnson], and Nino [Williams] have been doing a good job on the opponent’s big men the last couple of games.”

On taking greater pride in the team’s defense…“You want to be solid on both ends because the best teams do both. We had so many new guys early that we had to decide what we were really going to emphasize. These guys would tell you that two-thirds of our practices were probably defense early. That is why I try to be patient with the younger guys’ shot selection. Our shot selection has gotten much better than what is was earlier in the year, but if you guard people it gives you a chance to win. We have got to improve by keeping our solid defense and getting better on offense. If we can do that, we can stay in the race. It is going to be a tough task.”

On the two upcoming road games…“Right now we are just worrying about Texas. They are a good team – way better than a year ago. Coach Barnes has them playing well. They just went and beat West Virginia by 20 at their place, so it is going to be a test for us. We are going to have to play good basketball. We had a rude awakening at Kansas but now we have another chance on the road. When we get done with Texas, we will worry about whoever we have next, but right now we are just focused on the Longhorns.”

Junior Forward Thomas GipsonOn the progression defensively…“I was not in as much when they were struggling, but I feel like me being a leader and us playing together has helped. We have been practicing really well and competing well. We take pride in our defense and everybody knows that if we shut people down, we can be pretty good. It all starts in practice, and we have been good in practice.”

On bouncing back from his last outing…“Coaches were on me about bouncing back and I was pretty hard on myself. That is just part of being a leader. I just was not in rhythm. I got into foul trouble and I really could not get into the motion of playing. I just really wanted to come out today and play hard. I tried to get early shots, rebound for my team, play solid defense, talk, and not pick up fouls. I feel like because I did not foul early, I was able to get in my rhythm and able to play well.”

Senior Forward Shane SouthwellOn the importance of the two consecutive dunks…“It was big for us because any time you can get two dunks, the team morale goes up. We just wanted to stay disciplined because they were pushing the ball on us after every basket. We just wanted to make sure we could get some momentum and use it the right way.”

On his role after losing Marcus Foster to foul trouble…“Within the offense you are going to get shots, but you have to make shots. Early in the year I was not making shots, but I am pretty much making those shots now and for the last few games. I really was not paying much attention, but then Marcus [Foster] came back in and did what he does best – score.”

On the team’s passing…“It is big and it has been improving all season. We had 22 assists on 28 field goals which is great for us. Our defense is really good so if we are passing the ball really well and playing good defense, that is a good recipe to win.”

West Virginia Head Coach Bob HugginsOn the play of Thomas Gipson…“He got the ball and put it on the rim. We had a couple of freshmen on him. He just big-boyed them.”

On the play of West Virginia freshmen…“When we had the rebound in our hands and gave it to (Will) Spradling then went two for six on free throws. We missed open shots and they made open shots.”

On Kansas State freshmen…“They do a good job of gang guarding. (Marcus) Foster is good, we have seen that on tape.”

On Kansas State’s defense...“What they did well was not guard you on the foul line; they are not allowed to do that. We just handed the ball to them. It seems like we get our hands on as many balls as anyone else does, but everyone else seems to come up with the balls that we do not come up with and I do not understand it. We do not pass the ball. We got in trouble when Kansas State got turnovers and we brought it down the court and shot the ball. We cannot really do that against teams that are so help-oriented as they are. They came down and shot in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock. Everyone wants to talk about their defense. Their defense is good, do not get me wrong, but offensively they make you work. They pass it and cut and end up with a pretty good shot. Their offense is good, they have good patience. They pass the ball.”

Sophomore Guard Eron HarrisOn playing the whole game strong…“In the second half we really needed to make some shots. Every game the first and second halves have to be the same. You come out in the second half and it has to be a new game.”

On the lack of effort…“I do not even know. If this is from lack of effort, I feel like I am doing a lot to motivate my team, so I do not really know what the answer is.”

Junior Guard Juwan StatenOn falling behind early…“I feel like this one got away from us quick. They came out and hit us first. We just had a hard time coming back from it.”

On consistency of play…“In basketball you are going to go through times where you are shooting the ball well and times where you are not shooting the ball well. As a team we need to approach the game better and take care of our business off of the court and through the whole week. For taking care of business throughout the whole week, you cannot help but be successful. I think we leave a lot of the stones unturned. We do not do everything that we need to do before being ready for the game. When it is game time, it is too late to get ready. We need to have the mind set all week to work on our individual skills in practice.”